Background & Objectives: Effects of new educational programs on health and physical fitness promotion is an important issue which needs regular evaluations. Physical fitness has many advantages such as cardio-respiratory health promotion, prevention of some diseases and improvement of quality of life. On the other hand, it has been shown that there is significant relationship between waterpipe smoking and cancer, cardiovascular as well as pulmonary diseases. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between addiction to waterpipe smoking and cardio-respiratory fitness and body composition of physical education students in Islamic Azad University, Ardabil Branch.

 Methods: One hundred and eighty-one physical education students participated in this study. All subjects were selected by cluster sampling method. Cardio-Respiratory fitness (using Cooper test), Body Mass Index (BMI), Fat percent (using 2-point Lohman equation), addiction to waterpipe smoking, smoke exposure and awareness of waterpipe effects on athletic performance (using questionnaire) were evaluated.

 Results: The body composition of the most students was not suitable (50.3% extra fat), but the cardio-respiratory fitness of male students was better than that of female students.

 Furthermore, In spite of decrease in waterpipe smoking in comparison to last year (13.3% versus 35.6%), many non-smoking students are exposed to waterpipe smoke (21.0%) and some of them (48.1%) had little information about the harmful effects of waterpipe smoking on athletic performance.

 Conclusion: According to results of this study improvement in cardio-respiratory fitness and body composition of physical education students and enhancement of their information about side-effects of waterpipe smoking should be emphasized